Loof leads Stars

After day one of European championship

The Star European Championships was well represented as it got underway yesterday. Following on closely from their World Championship held in California last month, 65 boats have made the trip to Italy from 22 nations, including some of the top Star sailors in the world.

Held at the Italian Yacht Club in Genoa with racing conducted on the waters in front of the Lido di Albaro, racing got underway with 2001 Star World Champion Fredrik Loof of Sweden, sailing with Andres Ekstrom, leading the way to win the opening race of the championship. Niklas Holm/Martin Leifelt of Denmark crossed the line in second place with Mark Mansfield/ Killian Collins of Ireland third.

There were however some top names missing out of the top five, 1995 and 2000 World Champion and three time Olympic medallist Mark Reynolds sailing with Austin Sperry of America came in ninth place and pre-race favourites, recent world champions and team GBR sailors, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell failed to finish the first race of the championship.

However, it is still early days, the championship will consist of six races in total, with race two and three being sailed today and continuing through until Friday 11 October, with Thursday scheduled as a reserve day.

For full results see page 2...